In November 2000 a French court order was issued against Yahoo!
which required the company to ban access by French nationals to
auctions hosted on yahoo.com selling Nazi memorabilia. The court
order was based on French laws against the incitement of racial
hatred. The case was brought by anti-racism groups.
If Yahoo! failed to comply with the order, it faced daily fines.
Yahoo! objected to the ruling, saying the French court had no
jurisdiction over the US-based company. It pointed out that on its
French Yahoo! site, yahoo.fr, it already complied with French laws.
However, before the deadline for yahoo.com’s compliance, Yahoo!
announced that it would begin screening items before listing them
in its on-line auctions to prevent the sale of items associated
with hate groups, including Nazi memorabilia.
Yahoo! filed a lawsuit in December, asking a US Federal Court in
San Jose, California, to declare that the French government has no
jurisdiction over Yahoo! in the US and therefore cannot enforce its
fines. The action was taken, says Yahoo!, to protect free speech on
the internet. The judge, Jeremy Fogel, on Thursday threw out a
French request for dismissal of the case, meaning the court will
now hear and decide the case.
